We have found that many people talk aboutlearning organizations without realizingthe underlying assumptions that arerequired to develop a learning organization.Once we facilitated a group trainingand did a blitz survey about how manypeoplebelieved they work in a learningorganization. All but two out of 18 peoplebelieved they worked for a learning organization.They associated the concept oflearning organization with the learningopportunities their organizations offeredto employees. By the end of the training, inwhich we explored the concept of learningorganizations, we asked the same questionagain and only two out of 16 said theyworked for a learning organization. Why?They realized that there is much moreto the concept of organizational learningthan the amount of training peoplecan take.

Many of Don Kluemper's management students at the University of Illinois at Chicago have had this experience: After going on a job interview, they sometimes receive "friend" requests from their interviewers. ...

In a job interview, there are some things that aren't immediately apparent to the interviewer: a candidate's religion, marital status or sexual orientation. Employers are not allowed to ask about those things, by law. Many employers check social media profiles of prospective hires online, but doing so is raising questions for both employers and job applicants.

Strategic planning is dead, as I wrote recent on this forum. However, the needs that created strategic planning continue, so something must take its place.

All business decisions are forward looking. It is certainly hard to come up with the one perfect forecast of the external environment, the prognostication that accurately assesses changes in the economy, in technology, in social attitudes and in government policy. The difficulty in forecasting, however, does not eliminate the fact that today's decisions are invariably about the future.

Last week I spoke with a CEO who recently led a serious staff overhaul at his association. Improvements need to be made to the association's membership structure and technology savvy to respond to shifts in its industry.

... [I]t also speaks to how difficult it is to manage staff cultures and ensure that not only is your team capable and enthusiastic, but flexible as well. Can you restructure without cleaning house?

There is plenty of advice out there about how to boost employee morale. Some say compensation matters most. Others say it's more about empowering workers. But there could be a fix that's vastly underrated: Try showing employees more compassion. ...

Go into many organizations and you might hear people say things like "I don't trust my co-workers to do what they say they will," "My boss can't be trusted to keep confidential information" or "This place really lacks trust among colleagues." Lack of trust is a common complaint among employees, and people want to be in workplaces with strong levels of trust. ...

In his book "The Speed of Trust," Stephen M.R. Covey describes trust as confidence in the abilities and integrity of others, and distrust as being suspicious of others' agenda, capabilities or integrity. He says that increased trust among co-workers produces increased speed of efficiency and a decrease in cost because people are able to get more things done.

Now that David Letterman is leaving his Late Show on CBS, his former protégé Craig Ferguson reportedly stands to make at least $8 million - but not for replacing him, since Stephen Colbert has actually landed that gig. Ferguson gets compensated simply for not landing Letterman's spot, which effectively means he wins by default while CBS loses millions.

Talk about a sweet deal! As absurd as the arrangement might sound, if that happens, it's not unheard of. What's more absurd is how commonplace and inflated golden parachutes, which include payment for change of control as well as severance for being fired, have become throughout corporate America.

When it comes to offering benefits to their employees, small-business owners don't have the leverage that large companies do. But there is a long laundry list of benefits that small-business owners can use to attract and retain employees, according to experts participating in a recent MarketWatch panel discussion in San Francisco, all of whom count many small-business owners among their clients.

As corporate budget makers know all too well, it's not just accumulating money that can be challenging - it's parceling it out.

Anybody who manages an organization appreciates it is a limited resource that must be reasonably rationed in the business and personal worlds. Every organization has to set a budget for each of its operations and divisions to ensure that tasks are adequately financed and ultimately performed.

With any budget request, the issue may simply be who gets what. But how that decision is communicated often presents a challenge.

In the business world, there's no such thing as being too small for Big Data. The term Big Data refers to the vast amount of customer information gathered from social networks, chat and email correspondences, browsing history and other online and offline sources. And it has offered businesses unparalleled insights into consumer behaviors and preferences, making it easier than ever to improve sales and service.